Prime Factorization of 55
Find the prime factorization of 55. Express 55 as a product of prime numbers.
To find the prime factorization of 55, we need to express it as a product of prime numbers.
We do this by repeatedly dividing by the smallest prime that divides evenly, starting with 2.
A prime number is only divisible by 1 and itself (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ...).
55 is an odd number, so it is not divisible by 2.
We move on to check the next prime number: 3.
5 is a prime number that divides our current value. We can divide by 5 once:
After dividing by 5, we have 11 remaining.
We are left with 11, which is greater than 1.
11 cannot be divided by any prime smaller than its square root.
Therefore, 11 is itself a prime number and is our final factor.
Now we combine all the prime factors we found:
Expanded form: 55 = 5 × 11
Exponential form: 55 = 5 × 11
We can verify: 5 × 11 = 55 ✓